Photo By Sandy Underwood

Interrn Sarah Brandon is a smart, non-girly Cinderella with bad vision at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.

If you're a theater fan, you probably face the same conundrum I do every December: A month of the same shows you've seen before. Of course, much of the charm of the holidays is returning to favorite things from the past. We decorate our trees with antique ornaments, we trot out sweaters and ties we've worn year after year, we go to visit our families and act as if it's the best moment of the year. That familiarity is a bit like comfort food: We know it's not necessarily good for us, but we like it anyway because we've enjoyed it before and we know how it makes us feel.

Given all of that, I'm singularly grateful that the Cincinnati Playhouse is presenting (for the 15th year) A CHRISTMAS CAROL that's as familiar as ever and yet reinvented by a new actor. Bruce Cromer is no stranger to the production, having played earnest Bob Cratchit for seven years. But now he's been promoted to the chief grouch's role, and he gives us an Ebenezer Scrooge that's all his own.

Cromer is funny and edgy: He's gleefully wicked at the outset, taking pleasure in being stingy and dyspeptic. When his night of ghostly visitation begins, he complains to Christmas Past, "I am not in the practice of speaking with spirits. It unnerves me." And we can see from his queasy expression that he means it.

When his conversion is complete, Cromer makes Scrooge highly animated, cavorting around the stage ("I'm making a perfect fool of myself!") and being genuinely human ("I'm really quite a baby!"). It's a performance to be treasured, re-energizing this tried and true show.

The balance of this excellent production of A Christmas Carol is largely unchanged: Greg Procaccino continues his long run as Marley's creepy, clanking ghost and the deliciously disgusting rag-picker Old Joe. The show is a great chance to see some fine local performers, including Dale Hodges (as the ethereal Christmas Past and the bemused Mrs. Peake), Regina Pugh (Mrs. Cratchit) and Amy Warner (the lusty Mrs. Fezziwig). Grade: A

Local performers also enliven Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati's CINDERELLA, another in ETC's series of holiday musicals based on fairytale reinterpretations. The team behind past shows, writer Joseph McDonough and lyricist David Kisor, is complimented this year by composer Fitz Patton, and the result is a magical blend of music and humor. The show is performed by a cast that blends veteran performers and members of ETC's excellent 2005-06 intern company.

In particular Sarah Brandon is a smart, non-girly Cinderella, and Adam Slemon is the introverted Prince Frederick. Their roles have much in common, including identical optical prescriptions, but McDonough's clever retelling of the story avoids many predictable turns. (For one, this Cinderella doesn't "do" glass slippers -- although that fact is how the prince eventually finds her.) Their relationship is charming without being too precious or sappy.

The show's hilarity derives largely from one-time Tony nominee Pam Myers as shrieking stepmother Brunhilda and CEA winner Sherman Fracher and intern Alexis Black as Cinderella's ditzy stepsisters. Their choreographed antics add considerably to the comedy that adults will enjoy, even as children will be entertained by Jamile Johnson, Sarah Mackie and Ashley Patterson as a spider, a toad and a crow who are Cinderella's friends.

Annie Fitzpatrick has a funny turn as Gwendolyn, the "well wisher." The best part of Cinderella is how it conveys a fine message (McDonough told me in a recent interview it's that "appearances aren't everything") without being patronizing or silly. With D. Lynn Meyers' swift direction, this is the best show of the holiday season for young audiences. Grade: A

Although New Edgecliff Theatre's 3 TIMES THE TALE purports to be "a play for every age," I'd be hard pressed to recommend it for children. Not that there's anything inappropriate in it -- it includes the stories of Chicken Little and the Three Billy Goats Gruff -- but the story is so incoherent and its humor so complicated and political that no kid under 10 will follow it, let alone enjoy it.

In fact, I had a hard time grasping the central story of a miller running to unseat a corrupt governor who looks like Col. Sanders. Some of the show's chaotic story is laid out in a song (about "Exposition"), but it flew right by me.

If Matt Johnson's script weren't so fractured, the show might be enjoyable for adults, largely because of its fine cast. Narrator Molly Binder works hard to keep things together, while actors Chris Guthrie, Jim Stump and Liz Taylor and inventive puppeteer Aretta Baumgardner endeavor to find their way through this maze of bits, jokes, songs and various puppets.

I give NET credit for undertaking a new piece by a local writer, but this one needs a lot more work before it becomes a holiday favorite. Grade: D+

The Know Theatre Tribe's THE EIGHT: REINDEER MONOLOGUES is the group's third annual production of this dark, X-rated tale of sexual misconduct at the North Pole. Jeff Goode's script offers eight confessional speeches by Santa's reindeer, offering their own stories and views as to whether the Jolly Old Elf has been misbehaving.

Photo By Sandy Underwood

Andy Prosky plays Bob Cratchit, under the cruel gaze of Bruce Cromer's Ebenezer Scrooge.

The humor is sardonic at best, and you shouldn't go to see this if you like your holidays dressed out with sweetness and light. Among the reindeer are a foul-mouthed gay male, an alcoholic, a militant right-winger, an egotistical movie star, a ditzy ballerina, a lesbian, a former gang member and a slut. And the news we hear about Santa and the Mrs., not to mention poor Rudolph, is enough to sour your eggnog and curl your tinsel.

Having seen this before, I was dubious that it would wear well, but director Alan Patrick Kenny presents Goode's mean-spirited script through a Luke Brockmeier's inventive video filter and it's become a funny satire on reality TV shows. Each actor (the cast includes four undergrads from CCM's drama program plus several veterans from past productions) sits on the stage in the courtyard at Arnold's Bar & Grill and speaks while his or her image is projected on an elevated screen from several digital camera feeds.

Since they remain seated, the onstage action is pretty static, but the inventive video -- which offers back stories on each reindeer plus some funny public service announcements and other oddball holiday footage -- keeps the evening entertaining rather than depressing. Watching this show is a bit like downing shots of hard liquor: It burns and makes you gasp, but it offers a kind of adult satisfaction. Grade: B